The company is a manufacturer of natural latex weather balloons for civilian use, and it is not involved in military production, said Sinochem.

中化集团表示，该公司是一家民用天然乳胶气象气球制造商，不参与军事生产。

These weather balloons have no connection to any kind of airships spotted in the airspace of the United States, according to the statement.

声明称，这些气象气球与在美国领空发现的任何类型的飞艇都没有联系。

As a newcomer to the China International Import Expo this year held in Shanghai from Nov 5 to 10, Cardinal Health showcased a range of its newest vascular intervention and patient recovery innovations to both domestic and global visitors, while it also unveiled a new research partnership with BrosMed Medical Device Co Ltd aimed at developing the next generation of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) balloon products.

Some of its milestone accomplishments after it first entered China in 1987 include providing hydrogen fueling technology for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, supplying helium to fill the large balloons for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, and producing enriched oxygen for passengers on the world's highest passenger trains running on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway.

An employee of China Electronics Technology Group Corp checks a balloon before its ascent for an experiment.

Theme parks in China also launched diverse activities like balloon releases and firework shows to fuel the day of love.

Halis Aydogan, an official of the Turkish company Pasha Balloon Tours, told Xinhua that in Cappadocia, famous for its hot air balloon tours, Chinese tourists accounted for nearly half of some 600,000 balloon trip takers in 2019.

From Monday to Wednesday, sales of soccer balloons and decorative flags, cards featuring soccer stars as well as World Cup-themed tattoo stickers rose by 2,950 percent, 933 percent and 440 percent, respectively, month-on-month on Meituan.

"As the expansion of LNG receiving capacity outpaces the growth of contracts, the gap between China's LNG contract supply and import terminal capacity is expected to balloon, which may lead to more contracts in the near term.

Some flying sports such as parachute jumping, stunt flying, hot balloon rides, and gliders have become increasingly popular, particularly among thrill-seeking Chinese consumers.

By 2020, China's senior living sector is about to reach a market scale worth 7.7 trillion yuan ($1 trillion), and further balloon to 22.3 trillion yuan by 2030, a report published by CPIC Allianz Health Insurance Co Ltd said.

What makes this high-tech flying object distinctive is its ability to stay still or hold its course, unlike similar balloons that sway in the direction of the wind.

The remote-controlled balloon wowed the cosmopolitan crowd of onlookers at the Dubai Mall.

On Yiwugou, an online retail platform of Yiwu manufacturers, the top five domestic sales items this year are fake berry plants, snowman table decorations, gift cards, snowmen made of lights, and balloons.

Besides, extreme sports like hiking, scuba diving, surfing, parachute jumping, and hot-air balloon flights are becoming popular among Chinese tourists visiting overseas destinations.

For example, many Chinese visitors would like to experience hot-air balloon rides in Cappadocia, Turkey, go parachute jumping at Pattaya in Thailand, try out scuba diving at some tropical islands, or go skiing in Switzerland.

Looking ahead, IDC expected VR shipments in 2021 to reach 8.4 million units and, by the end of 2025, to balloon to 26.7 million shipments, with a compound annual growth rate of 36 percent.

With the local real estate bubble continuing to balloon, banks had poured loans into the province, posing serious risks of default if the bubbles burst.

According to banking executives, Chinese companies have seen international trade and investment balloon in scale, but its complexity has also risen, as the discrepancy in standards and regulation across economies participating in the Belt and Road Initiative poses a number of challenges, including the absence of a unified communications framework and compliance issues.

The draft proposes to prohibit the unauthorized operation of unmanned aerial vehicles, aviation sports equipment, or launching unmanned free balloons, tethered balloons and other objects ascending into the sky.

The resolution passed by the United States House of Representatives last week claiming that "China used a high-altitude surveillance balloon over US territory" and sensationalizing the "China threat" theory is "nothing but malicious hype and political manipulation", according to a statement by the National People's Congress Foreign Affairs Committee.